Dental School Debt Advice

[Spliced]

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Hello everyone. (This post will be posted in the dental and pre-dental sections). I was hoping some students/ dentists who have been in a similar situation as myself could give me some advice on how to approach/ handle my situation.
I want to start off by giving a little bit of background about myself. I am a Canadian student who wants to study dentistry in the United States and remain there afterwards. I carry a 3.78 gpa and a 21AA balanced aDAT score. Once I finish dental school I will be around 450k+ dollars in debt. Obviously this is a horrible situation to be in and I want to plan ahead to ensure I come out of this in the best way possible. My questions are:
1) Do dental schools (private - schools) give out grants/ scholarships to international/Canadian students such as myself and how would I go about finding out?
2) What sort of options do I have for loan forgiveness/reduction afterwards.
3) Any other tips or advice you can give me.
Thank you for your insight.

 

[fit2]

Yes some private schools scholarships (nothing very substantial but everything matters) however I wouldn't simply count on it. As an international I highly highly doubt u can have any loan forgiveness from US gvt; maybe can do Canada but I dunno if that works u must find out.
Try looking into some other schools that are cheaper than 450k maybe. Talking from experience as I am international myself too. I personally don't think I'd go to dental school if I was to take so much debt. That's my opinion. If you got a solid or at least decent tentative program to pay it back then go for it. Definitely plan before though

 

[738177]

Hello everyone. (This post will be posted in the dental and pre-dental sections). I was hoping some students/ dentists who have been in a similar situation as myself could give me some advice on how to approach/ handle my situation.
I want to start off by giving a little bit of background about myself. I am a Canadian student who wants to study dentistry in the United States and remain there afterwards. I carry a 3.78 gpa and a 21AA balanced aDAT score. Once I finish dental school I will be around 450k+ dollars in debt. Obviously this is a horrible situation to be in and I want to plan ahead to ensure I come out of this in the best way possible. My questions are:
1) Do dental schools (private - schools) give out grants/ scholarships to international/Canadian students such as myself and how would I go about finding out?
2) What sort of options do I have for loan forgiveness/reduction afterwards.
3) Any other tips or advice you can give me.
Thank you for your insight.

1) Very rare for international students to get grants/scholarships. As the other poster said, i wouldn't count on it
2) No loan forgiveness because you're taking out private loans
3) Carefully evaluate your options and try getting into Canadian schools if you can. I personally don't think 450k+ is worth it.

 

[oralcare123]

Hello everyone. (This post will be posted in the dental and pre-dental sections). I was hoping some students/ dentists who have been in a similar situation as myself could give me some advice on how to approach/ handle my situation.
I want to start off by giving a little bit of background about myself. I am a Canadian student who wants to study dentistry in the United States and remain there afterwards. I carry a 3.78 gpa and a 21AA balanced aDAT score. Once I finish dental school I will be around 450k+ dollars in debt. Obviously this is a horrible situation to be in and I want to plan ahead to ensure I come out of this in the best way possible. My questions are:
1) Do dental schools (private - schools) give out grants/ scholarships to international/Canadian students such as myself and how would I go about finding out?
2) What sort of options do I have for loan forgiveness/reduction afterwards.
3) Any other tips or advice you can give me.
Thank you for your insight.

Canadian government will give you loans, not US one. If it's not a full amount, Canadian banks give private loans at the rate of 2.5%. You would have to pay interest every month though
450K debt is nothing for a Canadian, we are used to high prices on everything, especially real estate. In my opinion you have better options to faster pay off your debt if you work in Canada, reimbursement is better and people tend to look after their teeth, even though taxes are higher

 

[Spliced]

Canadian government will give you loans, not US one. If it's not a full amount, Canadian banks give private loans at the rate of 2.5%. You would have to pay interest every month though
450K debt is nothing for a Canadian, we are used to high prices on everything, especially real estate. In my opinion you have better options to faster pay off your debt if you work in Canada, reimbursement is better and people tend to look after their teeth, even though taxes are higher

problem is I really want a life in the states. But i understand your point. I will keep my options open.

 

[Spliced]

1) Very rare for international students to get grants/scholarships. As the other poster said, i wouldn't count on it
2) No loan forgiveness because you're taking out private loans
3) Carefully evaluate your options and try getting into Canadian schools if you can. I personally don't think 450k+ is worth it.

getting into Canadian schools is much easier said than done. Even then most schools are in the middle of no where and committing 4 years of your life to live in a small village city with your life locked down seems worse to me. I did some research and it seems living very poorly for several years after starting work is the answer.

 

[Spliced]

Yes some private schools scholarships (nothing very substantial but everything matters) however I wouldn't simply count on it. As an international I highly highly doubt u can have any loan forgiveness from US gvt; maybe can do Canada but I dunno if that works u must find out.
Try looking into some other schools that are cheaper than 450k maybe. Talking from experience as I am international myself too. I personally don't think I'd go to dental school if I was to take so much debt. That's my opinion. If you got a solid or at least decent tentative program to pay it back then go for it. Definitely plan before though

Yea There are a few schools that i applied to which are cheaper e.g: pitts. But I will do my best to form a solid plan and stick to it. Thank you.

 

[738177]

getting into Canadian schools is much easier said than done. Even then most schools are in the middle of no where and committing 4 years of your life to live in a small village city with your life locked down seems worse to me. I did some research and it seems living very poorly for several years after starting work is the answer.

Fair enough. I only brought it up because your stats aren't that bad. May be you'll qualify for UWO with your best 2 years? I solely focused on US schools when I applied. I ended up choosing medicine though.
I definitely agree that you should practice in the states. It's laughably easy to get licensed in Canada as a foreign dentist and I don't think the market will be any better 4 years down the road.

 

[Spliced]

Fair enough. I only brought it up because your stats aren't that bad. May be you'll qualify for UWO with your best 2 years? I solely focused on US schools when I applied. I ended up choosing medicine though.
I definitely agree that you should practice in the states. It's laughably easy to get licensed in Canada as a foreign dentist and I don't think the market will be any better 4 years down the road.

I believe the best 2 years only works if i took 5 courses each semester. I took 4 most semester and at times i had to take a lighter course load to work. I have a shot a few canadian schools but from what i saw, it would most likely be in halifax, or somewhere in western Canada. UWO is definitely a good university however, I just don't see myself being in Canada anymore - my entire family is in the states already.

 

[oralcare123]

problem is I really want a life in the states. But i understand your point. I will keep my options open.

Even if you want to stay in the states, you are still eligible for loans at this rate
The last time I inquired, government only gave around 25K a year. Not sure what is the current situation

 

[Spliced]

Even if you want to stay in the states, you are still eligible for loans at this rate
The last time I inquired, government only gave around 25K a year. Not sure what is the current situation

Yea, OSAP only gives 25k, so i will get bank loans with a co-signer

 

[738177]

Yea, OSAP only gives 25k, so i will get bank loans with a co-signer

OSAP gives 8-9k per year, unfortunately. My friends are getting exactly 8k per year in US dental schools.
Alberta is the only province that gives in that 25k/year range.

 

[Spliced]

OSAP gives 8-9k per year, unfortunately. My friends are getting exactly 8k per year in US dental schools.
Alberta is the only province that gives in that 25k/year range.

oh, i ment total 25k